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Serious Stuff In St. Louis As Big Blow Does Big Damage
July 24, 2006 at 4:24 PM (PT)
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Last WEDNESDAY night (7/19) was unlike any other in ST. LOUIS ... ever. The biggest wind storm ever recorded locally lashed out at the GATEWAY CITY with 80 mph winds -- that's Category 1 folks -- and it destroying homes, and cars ... almost anything not nailed down firmly, and left 600,000 people without power, and fresh water.
CLEAR CHANNEL Top 40 KSLZ (Z107.5) PD TOMMY AUSTIN told ALL ACCESS, "It was a really devastating thing. So many folks were in need, and the entire CLEAR CHANNEL/ST. LOUIS cluster -- KSLZ, KATZ-A&FM, KMJM, KSD, and KLOU -- all banded together and simulcast our programming. The biggest stars in our cluster worked on the air relentlessly to raise money, pass on information, and gather supplies. The drinking water was no longer safe! Our promo teams were all over the market delivering water, ice, and some smiles."
But, it wasn't all that simple for TOMMY and his staff. "When the storm hit, our power went out, but came back up on generator. Then power at the transmitter went down. We fired up the back up transmitter and in no time at all, it had a small electrical fire going, forcing us off the air. We did get back up the next day.
"And, a tree fell on my garage, and is currently held up from doing real damage, suspended by power lines. It's still there, for now."

